Outgoing FCC head says Salt Typhoon hacking a clarion call to address issues

18/1/2025 13:13

The outgoing head of the Federal Communications Commission said a massive Chinese-linked cyber-espionage operation against U.S. telecoms firms known as "Salt Typhoon" is a "clarion call" to address significant telecommunications security issues.



"Salt Typhoon is a clarion call that reminds us that the security of our networks is absolutely vital for our national and economic security," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who steps down on Monday, said in a Reuters interview.



"We've got to make some changes ... We have to figure out how it happened. We have to figure out the extent of the incursion, and then, most importantly, we have to take action to make sure it never happens again."



Senator Ben Ray Lujan, the top Democrat on a telecom subcommittee, said China's alleged efforts likely represent "the largest telecommunications hack in our nation's history."



Verizon and AT&T have said they were impacted by Salt Typhoon but said last month their networks are now secure.



The FCC voted on Thursday to require telecommunications to have cybersecurity risk management plans. Rosenworcel predicted there would be other threats from malicious actors and nation states in the future, and called for more to be done to make the networks more resilient.